Elan
Elan the Bard of the Order of the Stick is the party bard, sometimes Inspiring Competence through his songs. He was initially seen as considerably less competent than the rest of the order, through his genre awareness came in handy on occasion, but he eventually took levels in Dashing Swordsman. The name 'Elan' probably comes from the word 'élan', meaning 'dash, style, impetuosity', though his surname is unknown. Biography Early years Identical twins Elan and Nale were born in a small village to a Lawful Evil general and a Chaotic Good barmaid. Even as a baby Elan was bullied by his brother, who seemed to enjoy hitting him over the head (possibly accounting for his dimwittedness). Their parents divorced (citing irreconcilable alignment differences) and the twins were separated, Elan being raised by their mother and Nale by their father. Neither twin was aware of each other's existence (in Nale's case due to their father's love of the dramatic), though Elan remembers his mother crying sometimes about losing a "nail." Little else has been shown of his childhood, though it is implied that Elan once experimented with same-sex relations at summer camp. Later in life Elan served as a herald under Sir Francois, whose ire with him peaked when Elan checked them into the Rob-U-While-U-Sleep-Inn and revealed where their valuables were. Thusly he had Elan count to a hundred with his eyes shut and abandoned him, to which Elan responded "Awww, not again." Elan stopped to assist Roy Greenhilt, whose direct methods were failing to recruit adventurers for his quest. Elan advised him to dress in a mysterious fashion and sit quietly in a bar. Roy tried this despite his misgivings and chose Vaarsuvius, Haley Starshine and Belkar Bitterleaf from the resulting crowd of applicants, offering Elan a position to thank him. In the Dungeon of Dorukan Roy's quest to destroy the lich Xykon led the newly-named Order of the Stick into the Dungeon of Dorukan, where Elan played Scrabble with a Mind Flayer, spent some time prancing around naked as an attempt at invisibility ("the less you wear, the harder it be for them ta see ya"), and later secreted a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity out of curiosity. The Order soon encountered the Linear Guild, headed by Nale; Elan took to him immediately and was happy to learn of their familial relationship. Together with Durkon and his "opposite", Hilgya, they activated the Fire Sigil. Elan refused an offer to join his brother, unwilling to leave Roy and the others. Having obtained The Talisman of Dorukan and miffed at Elan's rejection, Nale betrayed him via a sword through the chest. He was saved by his teammates and fought Nale, who lost when the bridge cumbled underneath him. Elan chooses to rescue his twin, and has Celia drop him off in jail instead, while the Order continued sans Durkon. During Durkon's absence Elan considered being the new team cleric, creating the deity Banjo the Clown, God of Puppets. Banjo quickly loses his only other followers and briefly becomes Banjhulhu upon Durkon's return. The Order (now sans Haley instead) confronted Xykon in the throne room, where there was a mysterious gate. Roy was easily tricked into thinking Xykon was trying to protect the gate, and instructed Elan to reach it. Haley tackled him just in time, having discovered Xykon's plan, and they shared an awkward moment before rejoining the fight. Though they won the battle, the Order missed out on the rest of the Dungeon's loot and XP because of Elan activating its self-destruct mechanism. Elan lingered on the way out to make a perfect "just-in-time" leap from the explosion. Next moves Heading back into town, the Order divided their loot, Elan getting a pair of boots of elvenkind. They next found themselves on a side-quest to get material to fix Roy's broken Greenhilt sword, during which Elan was kidnapped by a group of bandits for the simple reason that their female leader, Samantha, thought that he was cute. Despite an opportunity to escape, Elan's theatrical nature caused him to stay to romance the bandit leader, which caused some considerable anguish for Haley, who had fallen for the bard although Elan was completely oblivious to her feelings. The group were next accosted by Miko Miyazaki, a paladin from Azure City, who was under orders to bring them in to stand trial for Elan's destruction of the Gate. The Order ultimately agreed to accompany her willingly, until after an incident at Weary Travelers Inn and Tavern en route; Elan was instrumental in saving Roy's life from assassins (by disguising him using the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity), and then luring innocent civilians away from the inn with promises of pudding. After this incident, the group elected to stop obeying Miko. Elan and his friends attempted to stand up to her, but were overpowered and ended up in Azure City on trial anyway, where they were eventually found not guilty, the trial having been a set-up to get them to the city right from the start. Elan was presented with a gift certificate for one favour from Shojo, which he later redeemed to have the Linear Guild imprisoned indefinitely within Azure City's anti-magic cell block. Deciding to spend New Year in Azure City, Elan spent quite a while out on the town, which he enjoyed immensely. Learning of a local custom that friends would dine together on New Year's Eve, Elan proposed that the Order should eat together, only to be pre-empted by Haley, who decided that she and Elan should find somewhere to dine by themselves. The 'date' did not go particularly well, as Elan still seemed largely oblivious to her feelings for him (further complicated by the fact that Haley was suffering from trauma-induced aphasia and could only speak in cryptograms, so every attempt to tell Elan her true feelings came out as gibberish). Date problems aside, Elan did seem to expect that they would kiss as the year ended. Haley, however, hesitated too long at the last minute, and one of the locals kissed him instead, leaving Haley miserable. The Order moved on to visit the Oracle of Sunken Valley to determine where Xykon could be found. Each member of the Order was given the opportunity to ask a question - Elan simply asked whether their story would have a happy ending, to be told that it would for him, suggesting that some of the Order wouldn't have a happy ending. Leaving the Oracle to continue their quest, the Order were surprised to be contacted by Nale, who informed Roy that he had taken Roy's younger sister Julia hostage and was awaiting the Order in the city of Cliffport. Career change The Order persuaded Lord Shojo to teleport them to Cliffport, where they confronted the reformed Linear Guild. With his teammates distracted, Elan was abducted by Nale and Thog, losing his lute in the process. After Nale dressed Elan in his clothing and glued his goatee on Elan's chin, there remained no other distinguishing features between the two brothers. Elan was placed under arrest along with Thog by the Cliffport police, who believed him to be Nale, who was by this point responsible for setting Thog on a series of massacres in the town, resulting in Elan and Thog being charged with "417 accounts of murder and 1 account of intent to summon a demon" (although the latter was simply a theatrical trick by Nale). Due to their local laws prohibiting the use of magic in investigations, his case was unlikely to come to trial for at least six months. Nale, in the meantime, had taken Elan's place within the Order and was planning to murder his teammates as soon as he could get each one alone. Elan, however, managed to free himself from custody after only forty minutes by persuading Thog that Nale needed his help. The half-orc tore the cell bars apart, then Elan crafted an illusion to persuade the guards that he was the warden and was relocating Thog, allowing the pair to walk straight out of the building. Elan then got some new clothes by robbing a tailor twice and took an airship to Azure City with Thog, dressed as Final Fantasy VI]] characters (Locke Cole and Mog, respectively). When the other passengers (Terra Branford and Edgar Roni Figaro) found out he wasn't Locke (Elan mistakenly uses the term Resurrect rather than Fenix Down, and Thog has no idea what a "fenix" is,) he and Thog were thrown off before liftoff. He then managed to secure transportation by accident while attempting to get a corkscrew from a bar as part of a largely unrevealed plan, apparently of considerable complexity, involving Thog wearing a leprechaun costume and stuffing potato salad into a giant wooden alpaca. A nearby patron heard his request and asked why he wanted the corkscrew, and, on hearing the story, revealed himself to be Julio Scoundrél, world-famous sky pirate and airship captain. Julio, who thought Elan was considerably like the sky pirate himself was in his younger years, agreed to give him a ride. On the way to Azure City, Julio, concerned that Elan would be at a distinct disadvantage against his brother, gave the bard an old sourcebook, pointing out the Dashing Swordsman Prestige Class that he himself was a member of, which allows a person to substitute his charisma bonus instead of his strength bonus to damage when wielding a rapier, as long as he spouts a witty pun or catchphrase while doing so. Elan realized that this would give him the advantage needed to defeat Nale, and, trained by Scoundrél en route, took his first level in the prestige class. To commemorate this, Scoundrél gave the new Dashing Swordsman a magical +3 Keen rapier that Scoundrél himself had used on some of his adventures. Elan was then able to locate where he needed to be by focusing on his dramatic instincts; as Scoundrél put it, the 'scene' would call out to him, asking him to arrive in the nick of time. Brother vs. Brother Elan duly arrived at the dramatically appropriate moment, swinging in through the window of Haley's room, just as Nale was about to stab her in mid-kiss. He fought Nale and, much to his brother's surprise, quickly won. Nale then used his Bluff skill to trick Elan into believing that Haley and Nale were lovers, stating that Haley's crypto-speak was really the language Infernal and that they'd been working together all along. Elan prepared to attack/dump her, too, pushed by a suggestion spell from Nale. However, at the last minute, Haley was finally able to break through her speech problem, abruptly shouting out she was in love with him and that she'd been kissing Nale because she thought he was Elan. This revelation stunned Elan, breaking Nale's hold on him. The brothers continued to fight, with Haley, Sabine and Thog now entering the fray, until the arrival of Vaarsuvius and Durkon. Faced with the identical brothers, Vaarsuvius dealt with the situation easily by insulting Nale's intelligence. Nale was unable to remain silent after the insult and gave himself away; Vaarsuvius immediately hit him with a lightning bolt. After managing to subdue all three present Linear Guild members, the group decided to use Elan's gift certificate from Lord Shojo to have the Guild members put in the Sapphire Guard's anti-magic cells. After Vaarsuvius and Durkon left the room with the Guild members, Haley began to downplay her love confession on the premise that she was afraid he would not return said feelings; Elan then approached Haley and kissed her in mid-sentence, effectively demonstrating that he loved her as well. With that, the two continued to make out for the rest of the evening. Azure City War In the hours leading up Xykon's attack, Elan insisted that it was a Bardic rite of passage that he deliver a rousing pre-battle speech, which Roy opposed for no better reason than thinking Elan and the soldiers would be worse off because of it--which they eventually were, due to Elan's negative rethinking of every positive statement he made. When the attack began, the Order was initially forced to deal with five destructive Titanium Elementals summoned by Redcloak. Hinjo then assigned Elan and Belkar to assist with the defense of the wall, which was being scaled by the hobgoblins. After learning of Roy's demise at the hands of Xykon, Elan was too depressed to come up with any puns for combat; at Haley's suggestion, he sang a heartfelt bard song for Roy, to the tune of "Oh Danny boy", which brought tears even to the eyes of Belkar and the hobgoblins. With the Order under attack by hobgoblin archers, Elan used his increasing proficiency with illusions to create images of the Order and Hinjo dying in a hail of arrows, apparently fooling their opponents completely. He, Hinjo, Durkon, and two soldiers (Kazumi and Daigo) then proceeded through a hidden tunnel to the other side of the city, planning to rendezvous with Hinjo's ship at the docks. Elan stopped long enough to acquire a replacement lute from an abandoned music store, breaking the window and leaving sufficient gold to pay for it. His actions, however, cause a small group of hobgoblins to attack him and his escort, and led to the two grunts being given names. Four months later Elan was next seen at the wedding of Kazumi Kato and Daigo, wearing a patch over his right eye to look mysterious. He began wearing it after the refugee fleet from Azure City visited the second of the four other southern nations, but stopped due to Hinjo's insistence. Elan considered himself honor-bound to be Hinjo's bodyguard due to Roy's death. He was very insistent that some or all of the characters go back to Azure City to find Haley, who was unable to be contacted or scryed by either Durkon or Vaarsuvius. Hinjo was reluctant to make this decision as he was unsure that Haley was in Azure City or even still alive. Later, while attempting to fight off an attack by Sea Trolls, Elan inadvertently charmed Therkla, a half-orc ninja assassin connected to Daimyo Kubota sent to kill Hinjo and convinced her to help him flank a troll. Shortly after defeating the troll Therkla was knocked off the boat by the troll's body and rejoined Kubota and his advisor imp, Qarr. Some time later, he, along with Durkon and Daigo, were found on Orc Island running from an Orcish horde chasing after them. Elan attempted to distract them with an illusion, but only succeeded on casting the illusion of another horde chasing after them, though this did convince the orcs to give up on the chase and let the other "orcs" continue it. Later they met up with Vaarsuvius, to whom they explain the details of the chase, saying that it originated with the group attempting to ask the Orcs to resupply their ships, with Elan successful in engaging their leader in diplomacy, though when Elan took out Banjo the Clown, the Orcs bowed down in worship and declared Elan not worthy of holding Banjo. They then returned to rescue Lien, who was being offered as a sacrifice to Banjo, though they were soon captured. Therkla, who was there as the orcs were originally cooperating with her and Qarr, then took control of Banjo the handpuppetComic #557, "The Puppet Mistress", stating to the orcs that Elan was his prophet and was not to be harmed. Not noticing that Banjo was being controlled by Therkla, Elan attempted to convince Banjo that he should use his newly gained, if marginal, power to do good, similar to his own experiences with his newly-gained competence as a Dashing Swordsman. Therkla, as Banjo, allowed the others to be set free due to her being quite smitten with Elan. Upon escaping, however, Elan realized that the Orcs were now without a tangible deity, and thus provided them with Banjo's brother, Giggles the Clown, god of slapstickComic #561, "Pop Idolatry" (much to the dismay of Durkon, who had hoped they would accept Thor). It was quickly decided that the two sibling gods were rivals, and that their rivalry must be settled by a pie-eating contest. While Elan lost the contest, the Orcs enjoyed it so much they agreed to trade with Hinjo. Soon afterwards Elan was seen meeting with Therkla on a deserted island, in the middle of the night. There Therkla revealed her romantic feelings to him and wants to become his girlfriend, even if it's only for a time, until Haley reunites with the rest of the party. Elan refused her offer, staying loyal to Haley. Instead he offered Therkla to become good friends. Then their meeting is interrupted, first by Qarr (who tries to flank and kill Elan, this being the true objective of the meeting, but is stopped by Therkla) and then by Hinjo and his soldiers (including Lien, Durkon and Vaarsuvius), who used illusion to turn themselves into trees. Therkla was captured by Hinjo and was given a chance to testify against Kubota, but refused to do so. Qarr, however, managed to summon a powerful, gigantic Pit Fiend, even though the chance of him doing so was one-in-a-million (a chance that, according to Elan and his knowledge of genre conventions, always ends succesfully). The demon then started fighting with Hinjo and the Order. Amidst the battle Therkla freed herself and asked Elan to accompany her back to the fleet. She revealed that Kubota also planned to kill all the nobles that are still loyal to Hinjo to ensure him that he will take control of the remaining fleet. The first assassination attempt was directed at Kazumi and Daigo. Back at Hinjo's junk Kazumi and Daigo were attacked by Kubota's assassins. At first they seem to gain the upper hand but they were quickly overpowered when Kubota himself arives along with reinforcements, planning to make it look like he tried to defend them against the assassins, but failed. Elan and Therkla arrived just in time and confront Kubota. Therkla tried to convince Kubota that his plans have all failed and that he should escape to avoid getting captured or killed. Elan, however, doesn't intend to let Kubota go unpunished after all the crimes he committed and Kubota won't surrender while there is still chance for him to win. Then the soldiers caught a surprised Elan as a hostage and Kubota forced Therkla to choose between him or Elan. Both tried to persuade Therkla to abandon the other using various arguments. Therkla dismissed both side's arguments, because she didn't want to see any of men she cared about suffer and ordered a compromise: Kubota would take his remaining forces and allies and sail away; Elan on the other hand would promise to persuade Hinjo to leave Kubota alone. Kubota disagreed, thus making Therkla help to free Elan and capture Kubota (as she said, she'd rather want both alive—and one in prison—than either one of them dead). Therkla killed the remaining guards, but she was hit from behind Kubota using a poisonous needle on one of his rings. The poison quickly affected Therkla and started killing her. Then Kubota gave Elan a choice: he could either go after him and try to capture him when his enchantments (that protect him for getting hit or injured) wear off at the cost of Therkla's life, or try to save Therkla and allow Kubota to escape and cover up all his tracks, making him innocent to this night's events. Elan tried his best to save Therkla but was uneffective. In the end he proposed that they could resurrect her, but she declined his offer, claiming that it would be more of a punishment for her, because she couldn't bear it to live with him if she couldn't love him. She died afterwards. Furious, Elan chased Kubota and found him in his boat, midway to his ship. Elan launched a surprise attack and jumped onto Kubota's boat almost sinking it. He quickly defeated Kubota and as Elan wanted to land a killing blow, Kubota (witnessing that the demon summoned by Qarr had been turned to stone by Vaarsuvius) surrendered, forcing Elan to take Kubota alive. Angry, Elan had no choice but to do so, but still punched him hard in the face. Elan took Kubota back to Hinjo's junk, where Kubota gloated that he planned to put all the blame on Therkla and was sure that this would be enough to free him from charges put on him in the upcoming trial, much to Elan's anger and irritation. However, a moment later Vaarsuvius disintegrated Kubota, which shocks Elan. This sparked off a serious quarrel between the two (which is later joined by Durkon), that made Vaarsuvius leave the ship and continue searching for Haley on his/her own. Before that Elan bade his last farewells to Therkla and gave her a totally kickass headstone (the huge, petrified demon). Elan and the other members of the Order reunited with Haley at the Theive's Guild Head Quarters. Elan also mentioned he wanted a "Neutralize Poision" spell. They all teleported to where all the boats were. Durkon raised Roy from the dead. O-chul returned through Vaarsuvius' failed attempt to single-handedly defeat Xykon. The Order headed off in a ship to the Western Continent. The group reached it and arrived at Sandsedge town, a merchant trading post. As the Order of the Stick hunted for Girard's Gate, they discovered an illusion of Girard saying he lied to Soon Kim about its location. The location given was chosen literally at random. He mentioned that there was a 10000 GP betting pool on how long it would be before Soon gave in to what Girard saw as his paladin nature and investigated the Gate despite having promised not to. Roy realized that with all that money, whoever won the bet would head to a city or town to buy stuff. Later, in Bleedingham, Elan, Haley, and Vaarsuvius were kidnapped by two bounty hunters, who mistook Elan for the wanted Nale. They took the trio to the Empress of Blood, a fat, giant, bloated dragon. As the three tried to escape, the General captured Elan and Vaarsuvius. It was then revealed that the General (Tarquin) was Elan and Nale's father. Tarquin put on a giant celebration for his long lost son, including a parade and gladiatorial games, (in which Roy and Thog were the main event). Haley tried to convince Elan that his father was evil, but he was blinded by his filial love. However, when Tarquin showed Elan his birthday present, Elan's name written on the side of a mountain in flaming letters formed by slaves being burned at the stake, Elan finally realized his father's nature. He dueled his father but was bested by Tarquin's anti-pun abilities. Despite the confrontation, Tarquin still wanted to help Elan. At the games, Elan gave a dispiriting speech about freedom to slaves, and when Thog came out to fight they realized the Linear Guild was afoot. Elan fled with the petrified and shrunken Haley after Zz'dtri attacked, only to be trapped by Nale in the Palace of Blood. He managed to evade Nale and Sabine for a time through clever use of illusions (celestial tree sloth), and his resemblance to Nale. But he was finally saved when he landed on Malack's balcony where he and Durkon were having bloodwart tea. Durkon healed Elan while Malack engaged Nale in combat, Nale having killed Malack's children some years before. In the aftermath of the games, Tarquin gave the Order a flying carpet and the true location of Girard's Gate. Girard's Gate Elan helped inspire competence as Belkar led the team to the gate. When the newly reformed Linear Guild attacked, with Tarquin (disguised as Thog) taking on the Order solo, Elan stayed on the sidelines playing music to inspire heroics, a fact that rankled his father. Inside the pyramid, Elan was instrumental in figuring out that the party had become trapped in a phantasm where all their dreams come true, saving them all. After the destruction of the Gate, Elan helped fight the Elder Silicon Elemental summoned by Redcloak, though his puns did not appear to have much effect. When the elemental had been dispatched, the party found themselves surrounded by the army of the Empire of Blood, brought in by Tarquin. Tarquin summoned Elan and Haley (who due to her romantic relationship was "part of the family) to talk. It was then that Tarquin finally gave up on his son Nale, killing him. Elan, who had always had mixed feelings about Nale, was nevertheless devastated that Nale had been killed and disintegrated. Tarquin, convinced that Roy was an obstacle to Elan becoming a true hero, ordered his army to slaughter the remaining members of the Order. As Roy tried to hold off an entire army Elan entered the fray along with Haley. With the return of Vaarsuvius, the party was able to escape into the desert. Elan fought his father and elements of the Vector Legion, who nearly defeated them, Tarquin impaling Elan to get to Roy. But Julio Scoundél arrived just in time to save them. Julio had been contacted some time before in a secret plan hinted at by Elan but not revealed to preserve narrative tension. Julio was convinced to intervene in order to upend conventional narrative tropes. The party escaped to the Mechane, but Tarquin and Laurin Shattersmith followed. Tarquin sundered Elan's +3 Keen Rapier (a gift from Julio), but was thwarted from teaching Elan a lesson by Vaarsuvius. Ultimately Tarquin hung from the airship with only Elan to save him, but Elan decided to let him fall. Tarquin did not die, but was left without a satisfying ending to his plot arc. Tinkertown The Mechane set out to take the party to Kraagor's Gate, but stopped in Tinkertown for repairs. While there Haley, Elan, and Bandana were attacked by Crystal, who had been turned into an intelligent(ish) golem. Elan was quickly knocked out of that fight, but did get to eat brunch afterwards. Elan spent the Godsmoot playing Monopoly with Haley, ignorant of the action inside the cathedral. Current Activities When the Mechane, now running through Passage Pass on its way to Firmament to stop "Durkon" from ending the world, ran into a clan of giants, Elan was initially unable to help in the fight. But when a trio of giant warriors boarded the ship, he left Roy to fight them while he went to repair the ship's envelope, which had been damaged by the giants. Relationships Order of the Stick Roy Greenhilt Initially, Roy disliked Elan very much. Despite his idea being the main reason the Order managed to form, the idea of him letting a group of Goblins kill the Order in their sleep was something he imagined very easily. Elan, on his part, was oblivious to it, and considered Roy to be his best friend. Roy did end up warming up to him after he was kidnapped by the Bandits of the Wooden Forest, which showed when he voluntarily put on the Girdle of Feminity/Masculinity to save a poisoned Elan, and later on during the Battle of Azure City when he took a few arrows for Elan. When Roy was killed while fighting Xykon, Elan was crushed and brought to tears before Haley encouraged him to sing a Bard song, and he composed "O buddy Roy" which he sung from the battlements of Azure City. Elan always considered Roy to be a good friend. When he was alone in Cliffport with Thog, his solution was to try thinking about what Roy would do in his situation, and he confided his unsure feelings about his father and brother to him. He also wished that his father would adopt him so that they'd be brothers. Haley Starshine Elan was originally oblivious to Haley's feelings for him, though the two got along well as they were both Chaotic Good. This all changed when he was forcefully swapped with his twin brother and imprisoned in Cliffport and became increasingly worried about her. Breaking out with Thog, he managed to get a lift to Azure City with the help of Julio Scoundrél, who helped him gain the physical capacities he needed to take on his brother. Crashing in through the window in the nick of time, he managed to defeat his brother, who pulled one last trick up his sleeve: trick him into thinking that he and Haley were working together, with a bit of help from his Suggestion spell to make Elan strike her down. Despite the being afflicted with aphasia, she broke through it and admitted her love for him and telling him that she believed that Nale was him, snapping Elan out of his trance. After the battle with the Linear Guild, Haley wanted to forget it all out of fear that it would make things awkward, but was shut up by Elan who kissed her, and they made out for the rest of the night. Their love has affected certain decisions they've made, such as Elan telling her about Therkla where Bardic tradition would have him remain quiet about it to cause confusion later on and Haley began trusting others more. The two have grown closer with time, and even when all contact with Azure City was lost due to Xykon's Cloister spell, he refused to give up on her and believed she was still alive. They occasionally made love in strange places, such as atop of a sand worm and an attempt during the siege of Azure City. Belkar Bitterleaf Belkar and Elan get along decently, surprisingly enough. The two of them share childish tendencies and enjoy cheap humor. As Belkar summarized it, "He makes me laugh." Belkar was amongst those who went back to save him after he was captured by the Bandits of Wooden Forest. However, prior to Belkar's encounter with the Mark of Justice this did not keep Belkar from attempting to kill him. However, when Haley and Belkar were left behind after the battle of Azure City, Elan was less than thrilled when Kazumi Kato reminded him that she was with Belkar, and attempted to jump overboard to swim back to the city. Vaarsuvius Vaarsuvius and Elan have had a slightly rocky relationship. Initially, Vaarsuvius found Elan's antics and constant stupidity annoying, and V was insulted when Elan expressed his wishes to become a Wizard himself, interpreting it as an insult and mockery to the profession and greatly insulting Elan, who only looked up to the elf, resulting in Vaarsuvius apologizing to him. After that event, the two have gotten along well, and V occasionally mentored Elan in better uses of his bardic magic, especially his illusions. However, after the Battle of Azure City the two began becoming distant, mostly due to Vaarsuvius being exasperated by the "sidequests" and again, Elan's general stupidity. Things escalated to the point where Vaarsuvius gave Elan a veiled threat (though the implied threat went over the bard's head), who found that V had become a horrible person. After the events of the attack on Xykon's tower and O-Chul's escape, Vaarsuvius began reforming from the view that arcane is all-powerful, and mended fences with the rest of the Order for the mistakes that were made. Family Mother Elan's mother had a good influence on Elan. She was the one who taught him to be nice to everyone, and he took his signature "X, X, X, X the Y!" singing tune from her serving tune. Tarquin : "I mean, he's my father and I've always wanted one, but he's totally evil!" Elan's father Tarquin was not very present in his life, having left his mother when he was a baby along with his brother. But when he finally met him in the Empire of Blood he was ecstatic, and spent a lot of time with him to "catch up", and his father even organized a great celebration in his honor. Despite Haley's insistence that he was evil, he continued ignoring his actions. However, Tarquin's true personality was finally revealed to him when his father burned over twenty escaped prisoners in the shape of Elan's name. Confronting his father, Tarquin admitted to being evil and told him about his plan to become a legend with Elan's help. However, he still wanted a healthy relationship with his son and helped him out as much as he could. Their relationship soured after Tarquin murdered Nale, whom he did not want dead despite being his evil twin brother. Defying his father's authority, he helped fight his army and escaped along with the rest of the Order. His last encounter with him had him drop Tarquin off the Mechane and telling him that he was not the real villain of the story. Nale : Elan: "I thought it was tough to figure out how to feel about Nale, you know?" : Roy: "What's so tough? He's a villainous jackass!" : Elan: "But he's still my brother!!" Nale was Elan's twin brother. First meeting in the Dungeon of Dorukan, Elan was happy to meet his twin. However, when he refused to join him, Nale struck him down and nearly killed him. Since that day, the twins have fought several times, and Nale even switched places with him in order to kill the Order. Despite that, Elan never wished Nale dead, and was saddened when he was murdered by their father. He acknowledged that he was a "villainous jackass" as Roy described him, but the fact that they were family made him confused on how to feel about him. Others Julio Scoundrél Julio was a mentor figure whom Elan saw only twice, but made a great change in his life. He first showed up after Elan had escaped the Cliffport prison, when he gave him a lift to Azure City and taught him the way of the Dashing Swordsman, a special Prestige Class he had found in an old sourcebook. He later showed up after Elan convinced him to come to his aid while fighting his father and his forces, leaving the Mechane to help him out on his mission. Elan considers Scoundrél to be a good father figure opposed to his biological father Tarquin, though he realized that the two were both obsessed by the story and its tropes. For example, Scoundrél has a Wand of Sending in his pockets at all times, including when the two were on their way to Azure City which he neglected to mention because he thought it made for a better story, and he did not mention Elan's resemblance to Tarquin, one of his "B-list villains". Personality and Traits Elan would be best described as being frivolous, endearing, yet dull-witted; he seems to be a variant of the "dumb blonde" stereotype. He is human, twenty-one years old at the beginning of the webcomic, blonde, fair-skinned, extremely good-looking and charming, possessing a charisma of at least eighteen. He is confirmed as being Chaotic Good. He sings incessantly, can be very childish and silly and can be staggeringly inept when faced with even simple tasks, to the frequent frustration of his teammates. Since his adoption of the Dashing Swordsman class, Elan has gained more of a focus on the task at hand and seems more confident in his abilities. He still retains his childishness, however, being happy at being reunited with Banjo the hand-puppet after his separation from the team. His ideas do occasionally work unexpectedly well and his knowledge of theatrics is second to none; he frequently thinks in terms of what makes a good story and acts accordingly, using genre conventions to his own advantage and made things as dramatic as possible - though he draws the line when people are hurt over it. He is proficient musically, as befits a bard, and is competent with a blade, and has become more so since becoming a Dashing Swordsman. As a bard, while he possessed a magical rapier to fight with, he usually played music in combat to assist his teammates; with his new ability as a Swordsman and the powerful rapier given to him by his mentor, he participates more directly. He can also ride horses well, much to the surprise of his companions. Elan has on occasion used bardic magic, usually illusions. At first he constructed illusions of the same species (but opposite gender) of his attacker using Silent Image, but later Vaarsuvius taught him to make better illusions (Disguise Self). He also seems proficient at throwing his voice, once doing it well enough to fool an Ogre guard. He was later seen using an illusion of a teletubby to scare Thog and using Mending to fix a door. Elan is likely either a fourteenth- or fifteenth-level bard, as he mentions after his first use of "Mass Cure Light Wounds" upon the party's reunion that he gained three new fifth-level spells the last time he leveled up. Powers and Abilities *'Bardic Training': As a bard, Elan has many talents and abilities. **'Magic': Elan has access to a special kind of magic, but he is not very experienced with it. Luckily, with the aid of Vaarsuvius, Elan has become progressively better at using it effectively. **'Illusion': Elan can cast very convincing illusions. It seems Illusion is his favored school of magic because it is the kind of magic he uses most of often. For example, during the fight on Dorukan's Castle, he once tricked a chimera with the illusion of a female chimera. During the battle of Azure City, he confused a group of hobgoblin soldiers into attacking an illusion of the Order and later briefly holds them off with an illusion of a celestial lion. During the third battle with the Linear Guild, Elan is able to incapacitate Sabine with an illusory Celestial Tree Sloth. **'Healing': After the destruction of Girard's Gate, Elan used "Mass Cure Light Wounds" on the Order. **'Music': Elan can use his magic music to improve morale and make a task easier. This can work to the Order's advantage or detriment, depending on the situation. **'Dramatic Knowledge': Being a bard, Elan has a fondness for the dramatic and is aware of certain fiction elements the group encounters in their journeys. **'Charisma': Being a bard, Elan has a naturally high Charisma level. Thanks to his Dashing Swordsman training, he can now use it to attack enemies. *'Dashing Swordsman Training': As a Dashing Swordsman, Elan has gained several other skills and abilities. **'Expert Swordsman': Thanks to his training with Julio Scoundrél, Elan has acquired the "Dashing Swordsman" level. He can use Charisma in place of Strength for damage when wielding a rapier, as long as the character can make a witty pun or spout a catchphrase when they attack. This increase in his combat ability became quickly apparent when Elan defeated his brother in single combat with considerable ease. However, the pun will have no effect if the enemy is too stupid to understand the pun or if they cannot hear it, and he can only use any given pun once in a single battle. **'Glass Damage Immunity': As a Dashing Swordsman, Elan is immune to damage from shattered glass, which helps them make dramatic window entrances. Equipment and Weapons *'Banjo': Banjo is Elan's clown puppet, which he worships like a god. To his credit, Banjo does have a small amount of divine power due to Elan worshipping him and an island of orcs worshipping his rival, Giggles. *'Boots of Elvenkind': A pair of boots he acquired from the loot in the Dungeon of Dorukan, these boots are supposed to help him move silently. *'Lute': As a Bard, Elan uses a lute to make his music. Having lost his original after being impersonated by his brother Nale, he replaced it during the Fall of Azure City. *'Belt of Charisma': While shopping with Haley in Sandsedge, Elan acquired a Belt of Charisma +2. *'Chaos Sabre': A gift from his mentor, Julio Scoundrél, who left him his sabre before leaving the Mechane after the fight with Tarquin. *'Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds': Given to him by Haley while in Tinkertown, after she had bought eight of them. * Elan also has in his possession: a bedroll, a ceremonial meat costume, dice, a kazoo, jam, a lantern, a pingpong bat, a roller skate, a squirrel, a yoyo, a dashing outfit, a toothbrush, an evil sword, castanets, a sombrero, equipment lists, a treasure chest, a drawing, the Stick the Order was named after, a letter, and his old equipment from before his Dashing Swordsman update, including: a chain shirt, a cloak and sash, and a magic rapier Haley found in the Dungeon of Durukan. The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: Elan is one of the characters players may choose when playing the Order of the Stick Adventure Game. The abilities of the character are reflective of his personality and skills as depicted in the comic, with cards titled such things as Poorly-Planned Illusion, Bard Song, and Wacky Hijinks. Gallery Screenshot 2016-07-20 at 3.18.13 PM.png|Elan at the start of the comic File:Elan_1.png|Elan the Bard.|link=Elan rushing to save Haley See also *List of Elan's Songs *Dashing Swordsman References Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Living Characters Category:Chaotic Good Characters Category:Chaotic Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Males Category:Bards Category:Dashing Swordsmen Category:Order of the Stick Category:Elan's Family